It’s that time of year again, the leaves are changing, the campers are dry cleaning their Edward blankets, downtown LA is preparing itself, and the new Breaking Dawn Pt 2 Soundtrack was announced! As you probably know I’m a super dork about this stuff and it’s become a tradition for me to break down the soundtrack, give you samples and chat about what we (think we) can expect. (Read: NM, EC, BD1)

Right off the bat, I’m just gonna say the sound of a whoopee cushion deflating played while I read it. I mean Green Day??? Didn’t he just have a fake rehab inducing break down? Didn’t their music play in all my fake punk friends rooms in 8th grade? Oh wells yall, ya know? There were also some jumping around my office and fist pumping and laughing my ass off with UC additions so there’s that. Anyhoo, let’s get it on…

1. Where I Come From — Passion Pit
If you haven’t been cutting a rug to their 2010 album Manners than you’re house party has been missing out BIG TIME. I mean this is like the best album. Their follow up Gossamer featured the song “Take a Walk” which you might have heard on rock radio. Craaazy. This is gonna be awesome. Video game/electronic/dance-y music + Twilight = Dance-y Moon
Passion Pit on Spotify

.2. Bittersweet — Ellie Goulding
GUYS – this girl pretty much started that whole half head shaved thing and that song everyone’s heard on the radio, Lights, has been out for like two years, so it’s about time she got some shine. Probably took dating Skrillex and the recent influx of dance type music but whatever we’re super glad about this. Song that made me fall in love with Ellie:

.3. The Forgotten — Green Day
Guys. You yourselves ranted during your set at the I HEART RADIO fest about being “punk rock” for 20+ years and now you’re on the Twilight soundtrack. I don’t really know what to tell you but… COME ON.

Green Day on being on the Twilight soundtrack
“When we were asked to be part of the ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2′ soundtrack, we readily agreed because the films are an insane cultural phenomenon, and we have always been impressed with the way the ‘Twilight’ soundtracks are so carefully curated.” We also really like money and have a mortgage.

Just because we’ll all be making montages in like a month using this song:

.4. Fire In The Water — Feist
Welcome back Leslie! You probably best know Feist aka Leslie from this song 1234, aka that totally Twee but we loved it song from that iPod commercial back in 2007 that you could never get out of your head. You’re welcome for this, AGAIN.

Leslie was also in another kick ass band, Broken Social Scene. She’s been a bit off the radar for a while but this is a welcome treat, we’ll see if she goes twee or back to her AWESOME Mushabloom/Let it Die/etc roots.

5. Everything And Nothing — The Boom Circuits
And now we come to my first: “WHO THE HALE???” of the soundtrack. From my Googling they have 2 EP’s out and 87 followers on Twitter. So if I’m doing the math right, LTT has more followers than a band on the soundtrack. Is this going to be another Cider Sky/Mammoth whatever moment on the soundtrack? Perhaps… looks like they’ve had a song or two on some ABC Family show called The Lying Game which cements my idea that they’re probably library music writers/music editors who have a side project aka sorta poppy, innocuous music that a music supervisor can use and not spend a billion dollars on licensing something the general (and not so general) public might recognize.

After listening to this I’m convinced Owl City has a side project where the side project’s music sounds exactly like the original band’s music.

6. The Antidote — St. Vincent
We all remember the beautiful St. Vincent aka Annie Clark (aka dream lover of so many boys I know) from the AMAZING (like the top of the heap) New Moon Soundtrack where she dueted with another dream lover, Bon Iver. God, the New Moon soundtrack seems like a distant dream now, I mean Bon Iver on this now after all his success? We wish. Anyhoo, enjoy some Annie:

7. Speak Up — POP ETC
So it took me Googling “Pop ETC” to figure out the AWESOME band The Morning Benders renamed themselves POP ETC. WTF???! Where they on a Morning Bender and decided they needed a less cool, awful name like Pop ETC? ANYWAY The Morning Benders/Pop ETC are flipping rad and you should enjoy one of my most favorite songs via their Yours Truly session:

Guys. If Pop ETC is anything like The Morning Benders were than they’re gonna be one of your new favorites. Like actually buy an album/go to a show favorite.

8. Heart of Stone — Iko
After a good Google and a good listen I’ve come to this conclusion regarding Iko: This is some depressing, slit your wrists shit. And who doesn’t like that?? No, really. I do.

Enjoy this weird non-official video featuring Mickey Rooney..

9. Cover Your Tracks — A Boy and His Kite
So I guess A Boy and His Kite is really this dude called Dave Wilton. Pro tip: If you wanna be freaked out by dad-esque looking dudes Google Image Search “Dave Wilton.” You’re welcome!

This is another one of those “where do they find these people?” moments but I’m way less annoyed because Dave (I call him Dave) sounds way less like Owl City then those other dudes.

Extra Credit: Listen to a few clips Dave has posted on his website, “It’s Racing” is pretty lovely. And defs listen to the song I found on some charity album on the Spotify playlist.

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10. Ghosts — James Vincent McMorrow
DUDE. Guys. Welcome to one of my favorites of the sad bastard genre that I love so much. He’s Irish, he’s talented, he makes you cry (in a good way) he’s lovely. I kinda wanted him to remain my private dancer/musician but hey I’m glad he’s getting this kind of exposure.

11. All I’ve Ever Needed — Paul McDonald & Nikki Reed
HAHAAHAHAHAH GUYS! I can’t. UC and I are just on the edge of our seats waiting for this one.

I mean they seem like lovely, lovely people but this is like so great, just makes me think of those legendary hotel “jam sessions” during the original Twilight and how this is probably like a wet dream for her..

12. New For You — Reeve Carney
You guys this is the Spiderman guy. No, not Andrew Garfield or Toby MacGuire Spiderman guy, we’re talking the now defunct Broadway “Turn Off The Dark” Spiderman guy who also has been rumored to be roaming around town with our pal Ashley Greene! Oh man, connections!

13. A Thousand Years (Part Two) – Christina Perri
Part TWO??? In case you forgot Part ONE…

“Time has brought your heart to me// I have loved you// for a thousand years// I’ll love you for a thousand more.” Play this back to back with Green Day up there and I’ll bawl my eyes out. I kinda gave Christina Perri shit last time around when I heard she was going to be on the soundtrack but I gotta hand it to her, the original was catchy, I now always sing along. This might also be because I heard it 3470329423094 times at last years Breaking Dawn Convention but whatever, this is a compliment..

14. Plus Que Ma Propre Vie — Carter Burwell
And then we all cried because it’s the quote off Renesme’s locket. AHHHH WAAAAAHHH!!! We all know I’m not the President of Carter Burwell’s fan club, probably his use of the guitar SO MUCH, but ya know it’s full circle at this point so good on him.

Most memorable cue for me from OG Twilight.

So there we have it friends! I was (sorta) nice and as always I am genuinely looking forward to the new soundtrack and seeing what new gems we’ll get this time around. See you at the stores (online) November 13th and at the inevitable upcoming tiny tour of the lesser knowns!

So it’s become a bit of a tradition (1, 2) for us to delve into the Twilight soundtrack after they’re announced because well, we love music… and I work in it. What isn’t to like about tearing apart the track listing and artists and see what we can learn about the film from it… aka make wild guesses and assumptions.

At first glance I’m intrigued this is definitely NOT the same vibe as New Moon and Eclipse with it’s “indie” (vom, I hate that word) esque sensibilities and thoughtful inclusions… this is almost more in the vein of the first Twi soundtrack minus the mid 90s vibe of Collective Soul etc. *shudder* I think the thing we need to remember going into this is that music in film is meant to enhance a mood or feeling in a scene and to help tell the story without being a total distraction (and come in under budget).

So we’re back at it again with the Chop Shop crew at the helm with Bill Condon so let’s see what they’ve brought us…

1. The Joy Formidable – Endtapes
This is one I was excited to see because I’ve been listening to their album The Big Roar for the last year. Though they’re not my end all be all, I’m glad they were included because they’re the type of artist I would expect on a Twilight Sountrack. I’m assuming this will be some type of upbeat scene with driving or running or maybe when Bella gets out of the car at the gas station at the beginning of BD. Ya know, if we’re being literal.

Listen:.

2. Angus & Julia Stone – Love Will Take You
Lovely little brother and sister duo on Nettwerk another lovely little label. Their music has been on a bunch of CW shows and Greys Anatomy so this isn’t a big surprise of a pick… but they’re kinda snoozeville to me. They seem like one of those bands that was put together for the sole purpose of inclusion on soundtracks and tv shows: innocuous, girl with a baby voice, sounds nice in the background, easy to clear, that sorta thing. I’m sure they’re nice folks and all but Zzzzzzzzzz. I see this in some sort of chill scene maybe the morning after! Heh heh!
Listen:.

3. Bruno Mars – It Will Rain
Ok, so I don’t hate it like UC hates it… she says she can’t even listen to it all the way through. It’s not awful… I wouldn’t kick it out of bed but I’m not ready to spoon with it either.

Some thoughts to settle the crowd down a little: All other lead singles (Twi excluded) haven’t even been featured IN the movie, only over the credits. SO if you hate it THAT much you can just run out before the credits roll. It’s probably a move to get more radio play for the soundtrack and in turn more moola. It’s not like Death Cab and Muse were being played 40 times during Ryan Seacrest’s morning show, so who better to choose as the single than the dude who’s basically PRINTING cash based off his publishing on his songwriting and chart topping songs this last year.

If it’s included in an actual scene, this feels like first dance or dance with Jacob material to me. Vulture is calling it Twilight’s version of “Kiss From a Rose,” I’m also feeling Robin Hood’s “Everything I do, I do it for you” or The Three Muskateers “All for Love.” All of these were massive radio hits which goes back to my theory on why this is the single: CASH. Der. Too bad they couldn’t get Bryan Adams, Sting and Rod Stewart to reunite one more time to create the BD song. I know my mom would have been pumped.

I ventured out last night with pals Ashley and Chelsea to attend the Twi Tour kick off at Hollywood & Highland with the stars and musicians of New Moon and boy did the stars ever show up! And here’s the story…

So 4 artists from the soundtrack, Band of Skulls, Sea wolf, Anya Marina and Death Cab for Cutie each played 2-4 song sets including their song from the soundtrack. I’m still at little sad that Death Cab only played 2 but oh wells there were bigger n better things to be had

Between each set was about a 15 minute break. We has wristbands for the signing but didn’t want to wait in a line that curled around the building with a bunch of people in New Moon shirts (tres embarassing) we wanted to see the bands and meet people! So we kept an eye on the line as we listened to each band, met Larry Carroll from MTV, met a radio station dude who wanted us to answer trivia (more on this later) and about a billion press folks and annoyed Hot Topic employees.

Finally it was time for us to run up to the signing. There were SO many cast members there that they broke them into two groups. Our group consisted of: Chaske, Kellan, Nikki, Kiowa and Cameron. We chose this group over Ashley/Elizabeth/Alex/Jared because we has already met Ashley and truth be told we really just wanted to hear some alpha wolf voice and exchange bitchface with Nikki.

Because the Hot Topic folks are meanies (aka wanted to keep the line moving) there were to be NO pictures or personal items signed but we had jorts and I told Ashley we should sneak them in! Chaske started signing our posters and I told him we brought some jorts for him to sign since the wolfpack made them famous but that they wouldn’t let us get them signed and he goes give them to me, I’ll sign them! So Ashley whips them out and Chaske begins signing them and Kellan sees this and he’s like WHAT?! And I say you know Jorts for the Wolfpack and he goes Not anymore! And whips them out of Chaske’s hand and starts signing them! The rest of the cast ends up signing the Jorts and now Ashley has a great keepsake! We chit chat some more with them and talk about where we all live and then it’s time to get the H out of the way. FYI Chaske and Kellan are good times! They talked our legs off and we were more than willing for it to happen. Too bad we couldn’t get Twicon/Prom pics with Kellan the whole encounter would have been complete. Like the Twilight circle of life!

TONS more after the jump. Video, pictures, stories, jorts, ROB!Continue…

I shared with you last week that I attended the Billboard Film and TV Music Conference and gave you all the dirty details on my brief encounter with my favorite man ever, Chris Weitz, but what else happened? I also sat in on the “Anatomy of a Soundtrack: Twilight, New Moon” panel and though I didn’t get any one-on-one time with soundtrack Music Supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas I did take copious amounts of notes, 15ish pages in fact, so how about I break it down a bit for you? (My snark in italics for your enjoyment)

Anatomy of a Soundtrack: Twilight, New Moon

Making the Twilight soundtracks were easier because Stephenie is an author that already had a clear vision and sound for her books from what she provided and talked about on her website. Music is a centerpiece to her stories. They wanted the soundtrack to be a musical manifestation of the movie and Stephenie’s story

Chris had a clear point of view about the music he wanted in New Moon: somber(and appropriate for denim cut-offs and sleep number beds)

Chop Shop/Alexandra began working on New Moon last December and were approached by countless bands and managers who wanted to be on the soundtrack. They picked artists who wanted to be part of the team , provide solely exclusive material and weren’t afraid to talk about the movie. It was all about cohesion and the artists they ended up choosing, in their minds, could all play a festival bill together.(a festival of wrist slashing music! my favorite! bandaids not included)

New Moon is the first movie Alex has worked on that was a sequel

They had what Alex called an “embarrassment of riches” when it came to options and artists to choose from for the NM Soundtrack. So many more than they could include. Almost 20 cd’s worth of material

Chris invited 6-7 potentials artists into the cutting room to show them cuts of the movie, spend time with the artists talking about tone and feeling from the scenes and what he was looking for musically. He took the time because he wanted the right songs. That is why everything fits so well according to Alexandra, the Atlantic VP and Paul Katz (Summit)

Read more about the Soundtrack panel including info on Remember Me AND stuff about Rob and his Music as well as more tid bits from Chris Weitz and Alexandre Desplat’s panel after the cut!Continue…

Today was a mindgasm, red letter day in the life of me, your faithful blogger: Moon. As both a Twilight fan, music fan and aspiring music supervisor, I was able to attend the Billboard Film and TV Music conference in Beverly Hills to cover to events for both us and our awesome super special friend and affiliate Will at NewMoonMovie.org who secured our entrance into the event. The conference featured two Twilight New Moon themed panels. One discussing the soundtrack success featuring New Moon soundtrack music supervisor Alex Patsavas, a VP from Atlantic Records and Paul Katz, music consultant and uppity up at Summit Entertainment.

The other New Moon themed panel was “A Conversation with a Director and Composer” featuring Chris Weitz and Alexandre Desplat who discussed New Moon and its score and music for a hour. Now, this was some hardcore discussion regarding the composition of the score, influences how they began the process, etc. It was NOT a panel where they discussed Robsten or anything about the actors other than what pertained to the topic of the New Moon score.

I’ll be writing a more in depth post in the next few days reviewing both panels in more depth but for today I’ll give you a quick overview of some juicy tidbits from Chris’s panel and what WE (yes WE I met the man himself talked about after the panel) chatted about. Hang on kiddies, we’ll get there but first some of what Chris and Alexandre discussed:

There were themes (musical) created for for each character. IE one for Bella, one for Bella and Edward, one for Jacob

To reflect the confusion in Bella’s mind after Edward leaves, at times the “Edward” and “Jacob” themes are “blurred” together to help created “subliminal confusion” in her mind

Jacob’s “theme” features electric guitar. Alexandre used a guitar that sounded very similar to an Indian sitar and Chris jokingly reminded him that Jacob is Native (Indian) American not Indian from India

The score will not featuring any of Carter Burwell’s score. (I’ll expound more on this decision in a later post)

And the most important info: Chris wore a lot of olive and tan. He was in full on DILF mode with cargo pants, striped socks (i love a good sock!), some sort of olive sweater and a leather man purse. Work it Chris, WORK IT!

Ok, so here’s the part you all want to read MY CHRIS WEITZ ENCOUNTER (that didn’t take place in my dreams):
FOLLOW THE CUT (moohahahaa)Continue…